Wyoming Breweries Place In Great American Beer Festival
A lot of things were changed, cancelled or virtually modified due to the Covid:19 Pandemic this year, one of the best festivals of the year, in my mind and in the mind of beer nerds like me, gave us the virtual treatment this weekend. The Great American Beer Festival, normally held in Denver, was forced to move their festival virtually. There were submissions to the festival from 1,720 breweries, so this is a pretty big deal in the beer world. Friday night, after a nice early afternoon nap, I hopped on their live feed of the awards show to see if any breweries I knew earned a medal.
There are 91 categories for breweries to strut their stuff and earn a medal. The medal system is Bronze, Silver and Gold for the category, thinking third to first, with first being Gold.
As I watched, what seemed very early in the award show, a familiar name was announced for a silver medal in the "Other Strong Beer" category. That familiar brewery happened to be a Cheyenne Brewery, Accomplice Beer Company. Their winner was their flagship beer, the Krimson King, which is an Ember Lager. This is their first medal that they've earned and it's a huge deal for the state of Wyoming for beer cred.
The next Wyoming brewery to earn a medal, also a Silver Medal, was Melvin Brewing Company in Jackson. They placed in the Wood & Barrel Aged Strong Stout category with their beer Ruckus. Melvin makes great beers, and honestly, I'm surprised this was their only showing, personal bias and all.
The third familiar name they announced was a beer that may be my favorite in the state of Wyoming, so I clearly have great tastes. Altitude Chophouse & Brewery earned a Bronze Medal in the German-Style Altbier category with the Altitude Alt. Altbiers are my personal favorite and this is usually a stop I make when I'm in Laramie.
The coolest part of these three medal earners is that two of the breweries are on the Front Range. If you Google Best Wyoming Breweries, it's almost always a brewery from Jackson showing over and over. Well, great beer comes from downstate as well. That's also why I love writing the Wyoming Beer Reviews each week so spotlight all of the beer Wyoming has to offer, not just what Google Analytics shows you.
Congrats to all the breweries for showing the country that we have great beer here in Wyoming.
Wyoming's Top Beers Come From Laramie, Sheridan & Jackson